The Game Theorists
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2014–2017
12:03 · 8.6M views · Jul 20, 2013
The Game Theorists analyze how PewDiePie rose to become the most subscribed channel on YouTube. The video looks at why let's plays and gaming channels thrive on the platform.
HN commenters cite it as an analysis of PewDiePie's popularity and of how YouTube's recommendations favored gaming content.
4 comments from Hacker News
There is an interesting theory on how that happened: this video Basically Google changed their algorithm to recommend videos based on time watched instead of just views. Which massively favored let's plays because they are so long. They also promote channels based on geographical location. Pewdiepie had an advantage somehow because he had a fanbase in Sweden and moved to Italy. This might also explain parent comment's problem (recommendations favoring let's plays because they are longer.)
Here's a video with some interesting theories about how PewDiePie, and other gaming channels, are so popular because they're effectively hyper-tuned for Youtube's promotion algorithms: this video
this video (12mins) [LINK] (13mins) if you prefer to read instead. Online Multiplayer Video Games: Peak Daily Users 5,000,000 League of Legends (Riot Games 2009, Free / Cosmetic microtransactions) 2,552,565 PLAYER UNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS (Steam / Bluehole Inc. 2017, $30 / Cosmetic microtransactions) 727,479 Dota 2 (Steam / Valve Corporation 2013, Free / Cosmetic microtransactions) 547,883 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve Corporation 2012, $15 / Cosmetic microtransactions) -in-built audience of about 500k-5million -low barrier of entry high skill ceiling -former professional players stream their games daily and give advice -livestream audience of 10k-20k concurrent viewers -streamer can earn up to 5 million USD a year from: monthly subscription model for cosmetic chat features, ad and merchandise revenue streams There are many intersections between genres, because teenagers are interested in a lot of things, fashion, music, video-games, tv shows. There is also a certain infantisation of 20-30's due to the increasingly common choice to put off starting a family until late 30s. A good example is the two brothers Logan (22) and Jake (20) Paul. Former viners(1) who were on a Disney tv show (2) moved to youtube (3) bringing over their fans from vine and disney and adding new ones due to clever self-promotion. Any 5 to 15 year old in America knows their name and about 5-10 million watch their videos daily. What is their talent? In a post-modern twist, the story of their success
Plus he has moved to 3 different countries, picking up viewers from them all. And how YouTube's Recommended Videos system works. Here's someone's analysis of why he got so popular. Looks, editing skills, and personality also helped build him a niche. this video